Two years ago, the Clinton City Board of Education adopted a set of strategies and goals they are currently working to reach.

School administrators reported an update of those strategies and goals to board members during a meeting earlier this week. According to Terrace Miller, associate superintendent for human resources, the systems mission is to educate all students to their highest level of academic performance and to prepare them to become productive members of society.

That mission, Miller said, is the driving force behind the systems goals and strategic priorities.

Educating high performing students is the system’s first strategic priority. As a district, the goal is to provide rigorous, relevant curriculum designed to prepare students for a globally competitive world. By 2016, CCS hopes to have an attendance rate of 98 percent for the system as a whole.

“That is a very lofty goal,” Miller said. “If we reach this goal, we will be one of the elite school districts in the state to do so.”

According to Mark Duckworth, associate superintendent of curriculum and instruction, by 2016, the achievement gap among student subgroups will decrease by 10 percent.

“Some of our subgroups have made a significant amount of gain,” Duckworth noted during Monday’s work session. “We want to get everyone moving forward.”

While some of the grade levels have met their achievement goals, others have surpassed the grade-level goal and others have more work to do, Duckworth said.

By 2016, the number of students scoring proficient based on the state assessments will increase by 10 percent at each assessed grade level, according to the system’s goals.

In 2013-14, Clinton City Schools had 24 students dropout of school. Data for the 2014-15 school year is unavailable until the 2015-16 school year begins in the fall. School officials say the goal is for the dropout rate to be less than 1 percent. It is currently standing at 2.98 percent.

Miller credits the system’s 21-credit recovery program with the success of improving the dropout rate that the system has seen so far. According to Miller, before the program began several years ago, there were as many as 75 dropouts in a year.

“Some of our dropouts are repeats,” Miller said. “We have some that come back each year and dropout each year. Each time they dropout, it counts as a dropout for us. There comes a point when you know they just won’t finish.”

The four-year cohort graduation rate, according to statistics, is nearly 89 percent. The system’s goal is to exceed 90 percent by 2016. According to Miller, the system is working hard to achieve this goal.

Another strategic priority for Clinton City Schools is to have high performing staff. The district’s goal is to employ, retain and train highly qualified staff who are motivated to affect long-term achievement and lead with 21st Century skills. By 2016, the goal is for the teacher turnover rate to decrease by 10 percent.

“The teacher turnover rate has dropped slightly this year,” Miller said. For the 201-15 school year, Clinton City’s teacher turnover rate was 16.67 percent. This was down from 16.82 percent last year.

According to Miller, staff and administrators for the system are continuing to work to meet all strategies and goals set by the board and system.

Reach Kristy D. Carter at 910-592-8137, ext. 2588. Follow us on Twitter at @SampsonInd. Like us on Facebook.

Reach Kristy D. Carter at 910-592-8137, ext. 2588. Follow us on Twitter at @SampsonInd. Like us on Facebook.